Mother is charged over boy in pond

A mother has been charged with murdering her two-year-old son almost 12 years after he was found dead in a pond.

An inquest held after Thomas Hunt's body was found in April 1991 recorded a verdict of death by misadventure. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.

But it is believed some members of his family urged police to re-investigate.

The boy's mother, Sallie-Anne Hunt, has now been accused of his murder. She is next due to appear in court in March.

Twelve years ago she told police that Thomas must have got out of the family home after climbing on to a chair to unlock the back door.

She said she was on the telephone when he went off to feed the ducks in the pond. At the time, the family was living in a rented farmhouse in the grounds of St Anne's Manor in Sutton Bonington, Notts.

Estate workers joined the hunt for Thomas, who was eventually found floating face down in the 3ft-deep pond. His inquest, held in Nottingham, heard that he could have fallen down a slope used by the ducks to get into the water.

Hunt, then aged 27, told the hearing she was "99 per cent" sure the back door had been closed before she began her phone call.

A post mortem examination revealed that Thomas had no water in his lungs and therefore could not have drowned.

Instead, a pathologist decided he died of shock after being suddenly immersed in cold water, a condition known as vasovagal inhibition.

Nottinghamshire police refused to discuss details of the case yesterday or say why the investigation had been reopened.

But a source close to the inquiry said detectives began looking at Thomas's death again two years ago amid "concerns" from some relatives.

Hunt, now 39, of Ibstock, Leics, appeared before magistrates in Nottingham last month under the name Sallie-Anne Loughran.